By Anthony Harrup


MEXICO CITY--Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Thursday that the reduction in the country's crude oil exports will be gradual as state oil company Petróleos Mexicanos raises its refining capacity, but reiterated plans for Mexico to become self-sufficient in motor fuels and eventually stop exporting crude.

"Pemex has a plan, producing about 1.85 million barrels a day of crude oil, half is earmarked for refineries and the other half is being exported," he said at his daily press conference.

The company is projecting exports of around 900,000 barrels a day, he added.

Pemex recently asked its trading arm PMI to cancel some contract sales in April because its refining division would need the crude, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

"Exports will be adjusted to the extent that we have the full capacity to refine the raw material, the crude, in the country," López Obrador said. When the new 340,000 barrels-a-day Olmeca refinery starts operating fully, in May or June, those barrels would no longer be exported, he said. The date for commercial operations of the new refinery have been set back numerous times.

Pemex's production of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel is projected at 1.05 million barrels a day in 2024, rising to 1.33 million barrels a day in 2025 and 1.4 million barrels a day in 2026, according to a chart López Obrador presented. That also includes production at Pemex's refinery at Deer Park in Texas.

Pemex processed about 1 million barrels a day of crude oil in March at its refineries in Mexico, up from an average of 792,000 barrels a day in 2023. By September of this year, gasoline production in Mexico is projected to reach 565,000 barrels a day compared with 335,000 barrels a day in March, and diesel and jet fuel output to rise to 429,000 barrels a day from 238,000 barrels a day in March. That implies an expected drop in fuel imports.

In a budget report sent to congress last week, the Finance Ministry estimated average crude exports this year would be 967,000 barrels a day, falling to 958,000 barrels a day in 2025. Pemex exported 946,000 barrels a day in the first two months of this year.


Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-04-24 1749ET